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The most important part of how the Volumetric Clouds look comes from the Material, which is then passed on to a Material Instance.
I decided to figure out how to create my own Volumetric Cloud material so I can understand what is happening, what the parameters do and most importantly to have more control over the cloud shape.
In this tutorial I show you how to create your own Volumetric Cloud material, step-by-step.
The previous way was to use a Sky Sphere Static Mesh and a Sky Material with moving or static cloud textures that would be applied to the sky sphere mesh. Now instead, you can now use the new Volumetric Clouds.
Out of the box it isn't very clear or simple what you need to do and how to use the Volumetric Clouds in your environments. And most of the cloud examples files are hidden in a plugin.
Let's get started on Volumetric Cloud overview and how to use it.
UE4: Recreate the Dynamic Time of Day Template Level - Why You Should and How-To
Category: UE4
January 26, 2021
The new Time of Day level template was introduced in 4.24. It includes dynamic lighting setup with new Sky Atmosphere actor and in 4.26 the new Volumetric Cloud actor.
BUT before you start using the new Time of Day level template there are few important things you need to understand.
Let's reverse engineer what's happening in the Time of Day template and recreate it, so you know how everything is working together.
UE4: Complete Guide to Spawning Foliage on Landscapes Using Grass Node Output
Category: UE4
January 13, 2021
Did you know you can spawn foliage meshes on landscapes automatically, on specific texture layer and without having to manually paint using the Foliage Tool?
Once I found out I could do this, I never want to paint using the Foliage Tool again.
In this complete tutorial guide you will learn how to set up the Landscape Grass Output node and spawn foliage procedurally on your landscapes.
Let's get started...
In December of every year I reflect on the last 11 months and begin to make plan of attack for the next 12 months.
This is a good habit to get into as you close out the year and begin a new one.
When doing a yearly review, focus on the following 3 key things:
- What you did well
- What you wish you've done better
- What do you plan to do and focus on in the new year
Here is WoLD Year in Review 2020!
UE4 Environment Breakdown: Desert Dunes & Pyramids or How to Get Back to Creating Exterior Environments
Category: Game Environment Art, UE4
December 03, 2020
A desert is a landscape where little precipitation occurs and living conditions for vegetation and animal life are very hostile. Desert is isolation and lack.
For the world creator isolation and lack means minimal number of assets need to be used to create the environment. Minimal doesn't mean easy but it does mean less time authoring custom content and more time focused on composition and lighting.
The simplicity of this project allowed me to get it done in couple of days and share the process with you.
Best part is the process can easily be duplicated for similar projects and applied to your own work.
Let's begin…
Now Out - "UE4: Complete Guide to Auto-Landscape Materials" Tutorial Course
Category: News/Updates, UE4
November 16, 2020
Using Auto-Landscape Materials for large terrains is a must for any open-world environments. It will let you automatically texture landscapes based on the slope (angle) of the terrain.
But how do you create and use one?
In this in-depth tutorial I will show you how to create your own very first Auto-Landscape Material...
UE4: Automatically Texture HUGE Landscapes with Auto-Landscape Materials
Category: UE4
November 09, 2020
I had created huge landscapes in UE4 varying in size from 1km x 1km to all the way to 8km x 8km - all untextured.
Next step was to begin painting terrain textures. If I were to manually paint texture layers, the landscapes would NEVER get done. It would take days if not weeks. The solution was to create and use Auto-Landscape Material.
In this tutorial I explain what Auto-Landscape Materials are and how they work on UE4 landscapes...
UE4: Secrets to Generating Real-World Heightmaps from Terrain.Party for UE4
Category: UE4
October 07, 2020
Blocktober: Your Quick Start Guide to Blockouts
Category: Game Environment Art, Level Design
October 01, 2018 (Updated: October 1, 2020)
Blocktober, Blocktober, the month of October...
Blocktober is an event that begins October 1st and ends October 31. For the entire month you can see level designers, game environment artists and game designers share their blockouts for how they start creating level designs and game environments.
Here is everything you need to know to get started for Blocktober in October...
Quick Tip Series is created for beginners and advanced Unreal Engine 4 users.
These are quick, useful tips to help improve, refine, fix and remind you of tools, techniques and principles you may have not known or forgotten about.
All videos are very short, between 30 seconds to 3+ minutes.
The following Part 2 includes 10 Quick Tips and entirely focused on UE4 Landscapes...
Quixel Bridge has completely changed and improved UE4 environment creation.
You no longer need to create your own 3d models, textures or materials but use over 13,000+ assets available in Quixel Bridge.
However using Bridge isn't intuitive to a beginner. It's a new workflow you have to learn and get used to.
In this tutorial I'll show you everything you need to know to get started...
UE4: Create Procedural Landscape Heightmaps Entirely in Photoshop for UE4
Category: UE4
May 19, 2020
UE4 Heightmap Guide: Everything You Need to Know About Landscape Heightmaps for UE4
Category: UE4
April 29, 2020
UE4: Step-by-Step to Your First Landscape Material Instance (Make Instant Material Changes)
Category: UE4
April 22, 2020
Material Instances in UE4 are extensions of your main, master material that allow to expand its functionality and flexibility of using that material.
Let's say you wanted to make some changes to the material such as updating color, roughness or changing a diffuse texture. Instead of creating an entire separate material you would create a Material Instance and change the parameters within it to update those properties.
With Material Instances, you do not have to recreate entire material from scratch. Just create a Material Instance...
UE4: Step-by-Step to Your First Landscape Material (2 Texture Paint Layers)
Category: UE4
April 21, 2020
Creating and sculpting landscapes is the first step. Creating and painting landscape materials is the second.
Landscape Materials are very different than any other material you have to create because you have to be able to paint textures on the terrain such as grass, dirt, rock or sand.
This is done by a single material expression - Landscape Layer Blend.
Let me show you how to create your very first, basic landscape material that you can use to paint landscape textures...
UE4: 3 Ways to Organize Your Material Editor (Descriptions, Comments and Reroute Nodes)
Category: UE4
March 30, 2020
I came back to a project I worked on months ago creating landscape materials.
I couldn't make sense of my own work - wires running everywhere, material expressions all over the place. It took me few hours to sort it all out and it wasn't a very complex material.
So here are 3 ways I organize all my materials in UE4. I now know what everything does and if I come back to it months later I'll continue where I left off.
UE4: Complete Guide to Using Non-Destructive Landscape Layers - Splines
Category: UE4
March 03, 2020
Landscape Splines allow you to create linear features such as roads, railroads and pathways that will conform and modify the terrain underneath it.
Landscape Splines have been in UE4 for some time but now with addition of Landscape Layers in 4.24+, using Splines became a lot easier to use.
In this tutorial I'll focus entirely on how to use Splines with Landscape Layers.
UE4: Complete Guide to Using Non-Destructive Landscape Layers - Painting Textures
Category: UE4
February 24, 2020
Unreal Engine 4.24+ gave us new landscape layers. This means you can now edit and modify your landscapes non-destructively.
Landscape Layers have two components to them. Each landscape layer can contain information for the heightmap sculpt and painted textures.
In this tutorial you'll learn how to use the non-destructive landscape layers for painting textures.
UE4: Complete Guide to Using Non-Destructive Landscape Layers - Sculpting
Category: UE4
February 18, 2020
In Unreal Engine 4.24 a new amazing landscape feature was introduced that makes working and editing landscapes a lot easier. This new feature is Landscape Layers which allows you to edit and modify your landscapes non-destructively, giving you complete artistic and creative control over what you sculpt and what you paint.
In this first tutorial, learn how to start using Landscape Layers specifically with Sculpting.
New Tutorial Course Release: "UE4 Fundamentals Vol.2 Landscape Essentials"
Category: News/Updates, UE4
February 03, 2020
UE4: Fix Landscape Texture Tiling with This UE4 Macro/Micro Variation Technique
Category: UE4
January 30, 2020
I solved my first major landscape obstacle by learning how to hand-sculpt UE4 landscapes entirely in UE4 using the 5-step method.
But then I encountered another problem I had to solve. How to create landscape materials that look good.
The biggest issues most everyone has with landscapes is obvious TEXTURE TILING. Landscape textures often look good up-close near the player but at further distances the tiling becomes very noticeable.
Let me show you how to create great looking landscapes entirely in UE4 very quickly and in just 5 steps.
I've included 2 videos.
First video goes more into depth about the settings used for each tool and during each step. The video is longer and it covers everything more in detail.
Second video is only 3 minutes and it quickly shows you all 5-steps in few minutes. If you want to see what to do quickly and straight to the point then watch the 3-min video.
I Sucked at Creating Landscapes in UE4 and What I Finally Did About It
Category: UE4
January 27, 2020
Landscapes! The heart and soul of outdoor environments.
Yet, I've AVOIDED creating any landscapes in UE4.
If you look at the work I've done, it is missing one consistent element - LANDSCAPES.
Every time I tried creating a landscape, it would turn out like garbage.
How is it possible that I was using the same set of landscape tools as everyone else yet my terrains looked like crap? I was embarrassed to even show work-in-progress because I knew I couldn't finish it...
SUBSCRIBE & GET FREE UE4 PDF GUIDE
Subscribe to receive NEW/UPDATED and FREE "UE4 Beginner's Quick Start Guide" PDF (150+ pages).
Visit this page for more info about the guide...
LATEST: UE4 AUTO-LANDSCAPE MAT SERIES
UE4: Automatically Texture HUGE Landscapes
UE4: Create Your First Auto-Landscape Material
UE4: 9 Things Auto-Landscape Mat Must Have
UE4: Auto-Landscape Material CourseTUTORIAL CATEGORIES
UE4 LANDSCAPE ESSENTIALS
BEGINNER COURSE TO LEARN UE4
LEARN THE PREPRODUCTION PROCESS
ABOUT WoLD & ALEXG
My name is Alex Galuzin. I am self-taught level designer, game environment artist and the creator of World of Level Design.com. I've learned everything I know from personal experimentation and decades of being around various online communities of fellow environment artist and level designers. On World of Level Design you will find tutorials to make you become the best level designer and game environment artist.
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